Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantines, Chapter 13)

• Two christian monks went on a journey to China and the monks hollowed out their staffs and smuggle silkworm eggs back to

their native land in Persia and the Byzantine empire.

• These monks introduced a soon to be full blown silk production in the eastern mediterranean
• Only did the Eastern half of the Roman Empire or the Byzantine empire survive through diseases, military threats, political turmoil

while most of the surrounding empires collapsed

• Byzantine empire had a major influence on other empires culturaly and economicaly.

The Early Byzantine Empire

• The Byzantine empire takes its name from Byznation which was a thriving market town with strategic significance trading and

militar wise

• Because of its strategic value the Constantine the roman emporer at the time made byzantine the new capital around 340 C.E

and the name was changed to Canstantinople until 1453 C.E when it fell to the Ottoman Turks who named it Istanbul

The Later Roman Empire and Byzantium

• Byzantine empire orginated from the surving eastern half from the western collapse of the Roman Empire
• Challenges faced to the late Roman and Byzantine empires during the Sasanid dyanasty in Persia
• The sasanid emporers wanted to rebuild the Achaemenid empire of classical Persia that brought them in to major conflict with

Roman forces in Mesopotamian and Syria

• Migratory people were a continuing threat to the big cities including constantinople in the eastern part of the empire
• After securing their borders against the Sasanids and migratory invaders, Constantine built new buiildings in Constantinople including new

marble palaces ,libraries ,muesuems ,baths ,and artistic treasures

Justinian and His Legacy

• The most important emporers Justinian (526-565 B.C.E) was often called the "sleepless emporer" because he was very hard worker
• Influenced the development of the Byzantine empire with the help of his wife Theohdora
• Both were very smart and very well educated people
• During the early years of his rule riots because of high taxes demolished much of constantinople and sought out to have a big construction program and rebuilt much of the city
• One of his most famous buildings during his rein was the church of Hagia Sophia which today is one of the most important structures to christinianity
• When Justinian took the throne he ordered to review the Roman Law he then added and changed things and made it more thorough than any other that had taken place before
• When he was done he issued it and called it the Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of the Civil Law) which won alot of recognition
• Justinian also sought out to reconquer much of what was lost in the west, he sent out a general named Belisarius on military campaigns in Italy , Sicily ,northwestern Africa ,and southern Spain and won a good portion of it back
• Later Justinian had to withdrawl his forces and people from the west including Byzantium because of the continuing threats from the Sasanid and Slavic empires.

Islamic conquests and Byzantine Revival

• After the seventh century C.E. the growing Islamic states gave inspiration to Arab peoples who then conquered the Sasanid empire and overran large parts of

Byzantine Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and north Africa

• During the late seventh and early eighth centuries C.E. Islamic forces posed a huge threat to Byzantine forces
• Islamic forces retreated and the Byzantine forces held their ground because of a new weapon called "Greek Fire" which was old fashioned napalm used for both attacking ships and ground forces.
• Byzantine responded to Islamic issues with political and social adjustments by reorganizing Byzantine society under the "Theme System"
• The theme system consisted of an imperial province under the jurisdiction of a general who assumed responsibility for both its military defense and civil administration
• The theme system allowed the Byzantine forces to mobilize quickly and resist further Islamic advances
• During the Rein of Brasil II (926-1025 C.E.) he faced Byzantine forces to the west and crushed the neighboring Bulgars who had a large kingdom in the Balkons
• By mid eleventh century C.E. the byazantine empire had stretched its boundaries to Syria, Armania in the east and to southern Italy in the west and to Cyprus and Crete to the south
• The expantion of the Byzantine empire brought in so much wealth that Basil waived the tax collection for 2 years

Byzantium and Western Europe

• Ecclesiastical authorities in Byzantiumm regarded the Roman Christians as poorly educated and uncouth
• Church leaders in Rome considered the Byzantine counterparts subtle and learned bu insincere and insufficiently wary of heresy (obtaining an opinion or doctrine)
• Byzantine soon saw their land disapearring for an example: In 800 the frankish ruler Charlemagne received an imperial crown form the pope in Rome giving him claimes to imperial authority over Byzantines western lands
• In 962 the Otto of Saxony had a claim to rule as emperor over the western lands and then to make things worse he attacked lands in southern Italy with Byzantine rule
• An ambassador named Liudprand of Cremona described the Byzantine emperor as a dwarf, fat headed, short, thick beard half going gray, and pig like features he also described the rest of the Byzantine empire with negative thoughts

Byzantine Economy and Society

• Intro
  • Byzantine empire produced surpluses of crops, supported large number of crafts workers, and participated in trade throughout the Mediterranean EN
• Rural Economy and Society
  • Anatolia and the lower Danube supplied grain for large populations like Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Antioch, and Trebizond.
  • Constantinople was largest city in Europe at the time; at one point reached a million people
  • Economy and Society were strongest when a large class of free peasants were supported
  • Peasants cultivated their land intensively to help improve their fortune.
  • Wealthy cultivators ran large estates and supervised peasants as a dependent class.
  • Peasants were either bound to their land or they were under sharecropping agreements
  • Sharecroppers cultivated lands in exchange for a large portion of the yield, although they rarely made enough to buy independence
  • The theme system made land available to those who performed military service.
  • 6, 8, and 10th centuries, authorities limited the amount of land the wealthy classes could have.
  • 11th century onward, the wealthy class transformed the peasants into an increasingly dependent class.
  • Wealthy landowners had the influence to obtain concessions and exemptions
  • Decline of free peasantry lowered the pool of military recruits for the theme system.
  • Concentration of land and rural resources caused political, military and economic troubles for the last three centuries of existence.EN
• Industry and Trade
  • Byzantium remained wealthy because of Constantinople being a trade center, and the productive capacity
  • Constantinople was home to many artisans, crafts workers, and imperial officers and bureaucrats
  • Crafts wokers enjoyed a reputation of textiles, glass ware, gems, jewelry, and work with gold and silver
  • Silk was very important addition to the economy; Byzantium became principal supplier in Mediterranean
  • regulations allowed individuals to do only one step in the silk process so no one could monopolize the industry
  • Constantinople served as the main clearing house for trade in western eurasia
  • Constantinople merchants maintained commercial links with manufacturers and merchants in Central Asia, Russia, Scandinavia, north Europe, and the lands of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Basin.
  • Byzantium dominated trade so much that the bezant became the standard currency
  • Silk and porcelain came from China (to Constantinople), spices from india and southeast asia, carpets from persia, woolen textiles from western Europe, and timber, furs, honey, amber, and slaves from scandinavia and russia.
  • Redistributed most merchandise, often after increasing its value by processing
  • Banks advanced loans to individuals seeking to launch business ventures
  • Merchants often formed partnerships to limit risk, and pool resources
  • Byzantine business men made more extensive use of banks and partnerships allowing for a dynamic commercial economyEN
• Urban Life
  • Constantinople was merely referred to as 'the City" by subjects of the empire
  • imperial palace employed 20,000 workers
  • aristocrats maintained palaces that included courtyards, reception halls, libraries, chapels, and quarters for extended family, servants and slaves.
  • Women lived in separate apartments and did not recieve male visitors from outside the household
  • Artisans and crafts workers usually lived in rooms above their shops, clerks and gov't officials lived in apartments, and the workers and poor lived in tenements EN
• Attractions of Constantinople
  • sites of relaxation, exercise, and hygenic bathing.
  • Taverns and restaurants with checkers chess and dice games offered a setting for social gatherings
  • theaters provided entertainment in the form of song, dance, and striptease.
  • The Hippodrome provided mass entertainment with athletic matches, chariot races (particularly popular), wild animal contests, and circuses with clowns, jugglers, acrobats, and dwarfs.EN
• The Greens and Blues
  • These were the two factions of racing fans
  • frequently fought in the streets
  • Constantly sought to influence imperial officials to favor one group
  • On one occasion Greens and Blues united in a popular uprising against the high taxes imposed by Justinian
  • In 532, they seized the Hippodrome and proclaimed a new emperor.
  • The rebellion left Constantinople in pieces, and Justinian took the opportunity to rebuild the city on an extravagant level.
  • By late 7th century, green and blue rivalry disappeared and leaders becaem respected court officialsEN

Classical Heritage and Orthodox Christianity

• Intro
  • Byzantine church leaders disagreed with western counterparts on doctrine, ritual, and church authority.
  • Eastern and western churches became so different they separated into the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
• The Legacy of Classical Greece
  • Official language of Constantinople was Latin, although local inhabitants spoke Greek.
  • After 6th century , Greek replaced Latin in the empire.
  • Intellectual inspiration from New Testament (composed in Greek), and philosophy and literature of classical Greece
  • Education was necessary due to the large bureaucracy that administered the empire (gov't machinery required literate and intelligent people)
  • Aristocrats often hired tutors
  • Primary education in reading, writing, and grammar
  • Followed by studies of classical Greek literature, philosophy, and science
  • Bureaucrats, merchants, manufacturers, clergy, and military usually had at least primary education
  • There was also advanced instruction in law, medicine, and philosophy
  • School lasted 425-1453 CE
  • Scholars concentrated on humanities rather than sciences or medicine
  • Works served as textbooks in schools alongside classical writings
  • Byzantines with literary education considered themselves direct heirs of classical Greece as almost all literary and philisophical works are from the 10th and 12th centuries in Byzantium
• The Byzantine Church
  • Caesaropapist emperors actively participated in religious matters (even Constantine himself)
  • IN 325 CE Constantine brought together bishops, spokespeople, and leaders from important to churches to establish the Council of Nicaea to consider the views of Arians
  • Arians (followers of Arius [Alexandrian priest]) believed Jesus was just a mortal human, rather than being divine in some way.
  • Many Christians theologians believe that he possessed full mortal and full divine natures
  • Constantine believed in the latter (although originally Arian), and condemned Arianism as heresy
  • Individuals were appointed patriarch of Constantinople--highest ecclesiastical official in Byzantine church, counterpart of the pope in Rome
  • Emperors instructed patriarchs, bishops, and priests to give sermons supporting imperial policy and obedience to authorities.
  • Caesaropapism caused conflict between imperial and ecclesiastical authorities, and generated large-scale dissent and protest when imperial and larger society views clashed
  • Iconoclasm was inaugurated by Emperor Leo III (717-741)
  • Icons were paintings of Jesus, saints, and other religious figures
  • Theologians thought that these inspired imagination and encouraged reverence.
  • Leo thought that veneration of icons was sinful and was equivalent to worshiping physical idols
  • In 726, Leo enforced iconoclasm ("breaking of icons"), which destroyed religious images and prohibited their use in churches
  • This sparked protests throughout the empire since icons were very popular
  • In 843, the iconoclasts abandoned efforts
  • Theologians looked for ways to harmonize Christianity with Greek philosophy as this would have a powerful appeal
  • Theologians invested a great deal of time and intellectual energy into the examinations of religous questions from a philisophical standpoint
  • Debates about Jesus' nature represented an effort to understand Christian doctrine in the way that classical philosophers analyzed the world.

Monasticism and Popular Piety MC
-Asceticism

• Byzantine monasticism grew from very devout individuals
• Drew inspiration from early Christian ascetics in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia
• St. Simeon Stylite the first to be a pillar saint
• He sat atop a pillar for years and attracted admirers from faraway places

-Byzantine Monasticism and St. Basil

• People built communities around the devout determined to follow their example
• They had few rules until St. Basil of Caesarea
• Basilian Monasteries men and women gave up all personal possessions
• They obeyed their elected superiors and all devoted their lives to work and prayer

-Mt. Athos

• A place where monasteries are located on a cold and windswept peninsula in northern Greece
• Since the 11TH century no women, human or animal, are allowed there
• Monks and nuns provide spiritual counsel, food and medical attention to disaster areas

Tensions between Eastern and Western Christianity MC
-Constantinople and Rome

• Fought about iconoclast movement of the eighth and ninth centuries and whose version of Christianity was ideal
• Fights were over insignificant details such as to shave of your beard during mass or not

-Schism

• Popes and patriarchs excommunicated and disregarded each other as proper Christianity
• Known as Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church

The Influence of Byzantium in Eastern Europe MC
-Intro

• Byzantines entered a period of decline in the eleventh century
• Spread into Eastern Europe and Russia

Domestic Problems and Foreign Pressures MC

• when Basil II, ”the Bulgar-Slayer,” died the Byzantine empire was a political, military, and economic dynamo
• the empire declined within fifty years

-Social Problems

• Byzantium’s military backbone was its peasants and agricultural economy
• Free peasantry caused the military to lose its power do to the lack of recruits
• Powerful families resisted the government causing strife against the central authorities and local economies

-Challenges from the West

• Norman’s were a Scandinavian group of people that seized and settled in Normandy in France
• They established power in south Italy
• Crusade from Normans sacked Constantinople in 1204
• Byzantine forces reclaimed Constantinople in 1261 but never completely recovered from the destruction

-Challenges from the East

• As Europeans invaded from the west Turkish nomads invaded the east
• Muslim Saljuqs sent waves of invaders to Anatolia
• The Saljuqs defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert in 1071
• This caused the Byzantines factions to turn on each other in civil war
• Which gave the Saljuqs free reign over Anatolia
• Byzantine Empire finally came to an end in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople and absorbed the rest of the Byzantine territories into their empire

Early Relations between Byzantium and the Slavic Peoples MC

• Slavics moved into Byzantium territory when they went for resources in the western Mediterranean
• Serbs and Croats moved into the Balkan Peninsula
• Bulgars established a powerful kingdom in the Danube region
• Byzantium influenced these areas greatly

-Cyril and Methodius

• Brother Saints who were missionaries from Thessaloniki Greece
• Devised an alphabet called the Cyrillic alphabet for illiterate Slavic people

-Missions to the Slavs

• Alphabet helped Slavs understand Christianity in a Written form
• Missionaries built schools to help teach religion and basic literacy
• This helped Christianity deeply influence the Slavic people

Byzantium and Russia MC

• Kiev built on trade route between Scandinavia and Byzantium
• Dominated between the Volga and Dnieper Rivers

-The Conversion of Prince Vladimir

• Around 989 Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Orthodox Christianity
• He was no icon though he did help Byzantine influence Russia with Cyrillic writing, literacy and Orthodox missions as they quickly spread
• Kiev was the source of Byzantine influence in Russia and spread other things such as architecture and religious images

-The Growth of Kiev

• Drew inspiration from Byzantium legal tradition and written law code
• At one point Kiev had 800 churches but a fire in 1124 consumed 600 of them
• Moscow was considered the third Rome after Rome and Constantinople
• Russian missionaries took Orthodox church to distant lands such as across the Bering Straight and into Alaska and Northern California
• Thus the Byzantine legacy continued to influence through the outward reach of the Russian Orthodox church

The Wealth and Commerce of Constantinople

• Constantinople was 18 miles in diameter, with half surrounded by water (Mediterranean and Black Seas)
• Merchants from Babylon, Persia, northern Italy, Mesopotamia, western Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Russia, Hungary, Urkraine, and Spain were all present
• Constantinople was only comparable to Baghdad
• Church of Hagia Sofia (which had pillars of gold and silver) and the seat of the Greek pope.
• There were very many churches
• On the day of the birth of Jesus, the emperor gives entertainment at the Hippodrome, in which people engage lions, leopards, bears, wild asses, and birds in combat.
• Tribute of the city amounts to 20,000 gold pieces from rents of shops and tributes of merchants who enter
• Very rich in gold and precious stone, go clothed in garments with silk or gold embroidering, and ride horses.
• Also very rich in bread, meat, and wine

Anna Comnena on the Suppresion of Bogomil Heretics

• Anna Comnena (1083-1148) was the daughter of Emperor Alexius I (reigned 1081-1118), and wrote an account of her father's reign called Alexiad
• Bogomils had no worldly hairstyles, wore a cloak and cowl
• They had a somber look, walks with a stoop and quietly mutters to himself
• A monk called Basil led the Bogomils
• Basil had 12 followers (apostles) and also had female disciples
• Alexius condemned all the Bogomils (Basil and apostles alike) to death by burning
• When all the Bogomils had been hunted down, some stuck to heresy, others denied everything
• Two fires were built: one for those willing to die for Christianity, the other for the Bogomilian followers.
• The ones who chose to die for Christianity were released with much advice, and the Bogomils were sent to prison.
• Some changed for the better while in prison, and others died for their heresy

5 Themes

1. Interaction between Humans and the Environment

The society of Constantinople used the resources surrounding the city to gain wealth and build lavish palaces and buildings.

The main source of food for Byzantium was Egypt, and after Egypt fell from Byzantium authority, Anitolia was the main grain source.

The Slavic people migrated into Byzantium lands after Justinian sent out Belisarius to conquer what used to be Western Rome.

Greek fire was important technology when Constantinople was under seige from the Islamic conquerers.

2. Developement and Interaction of Cultures

Orthodox Christianity was the main religion in Byzantine.

The Hagia Sophia is a massive church that shows the importance that the emperors placed on religion.


Emperors' decisions on religious debates were sometimes not the same belief of the larger population and riots would break out

which once again shows the importance of religion.

Greek influence is very prominent in Byzantine, writing, philosophy, education, etc.

The theme style government was very effective during war periods and helped build the economy and military.

Christianity spread from Rome to Byzantine to Russia, deeply influencing the culture of these empires.

Emperors would delve into religious affairs and helped develop and spread Christianity


3. State Building, Expansion and Conflict

Roman Emperor Constantine built the imperial capitol Constantinople in Byzantium because the Eastern Mediterranean was the wealthier part of the Roman empire.

Constantinople became the dominant economic and commercial center in the Eastern Mediterranean basin (400 C.E.)

Germanic invasions and Sasanid attacks were the biggest military threat to the late Roman empire.

The people revolted when the Emperor made religious sanctions they did not agree with.

Also, the people revolted over a rivalry between chariot racing teams when the government wouldn't pick a favorite.


4.Creation, Expansion and Interaction of Economic Systems

Byzantine craft workers learned how to weave silk from the Chinese, became a prominent producer of silk

Byzantium controlled so much trade that their currency, the bezant, was the standard currency in the Mediterranean Basin for over half a milennium.

Byzantium dominated Eastern Mediterranian due to its strong economy

Strong economy due to agricultural prosperity, craft workers, and active trade. Provided economic and social assets for Byzantium.(Postclassical Era)

Byzantium economy depended on free peasants who cultivated small plots of land.

Constantinople's trade brought prosperity to all of Byzantium

Craft workers produced glassware, linen and wooden textiles, gems, jewelry, and various gold and silver trinkets.

5. Development and Transformation of Social Structures

Byzantine emperors showed off wealth, purple silk robes and bejeweled crowns

Byzantine peasants cultivated land to improve family fortunes

Peasants bound to plots of land owned by wealthy landowners, otherwise sharecropped.

Imperial gov. attempted to prevent wealthy landowners from gaining control over their property and tried to support free peasants

Wealthy landowners built larger estates, free peasants became few and dependent (1100 C.E)

Aristocrats possessed large palaces that held extended family as well as servants and slaves

Women lived in seperate apartments and didn't interact with males outside the house. Didn't partake in parties or banquets

JN